USDA announced the Emergency Relief Program for 2022, ten months after the funding was initially signed into law. But the National Sorghum Producers say there are two major flaws in the program that make it a disaster in itself.
First, USDA established a “progressive” payment factor to fit total payments within a budget that will severely harm full-time farm families. NSP says the “progressive” requirement will actually cut deepest on those who faced the largest losses. Second, although the law requires producer-paid premiums to be netted out for all producers, USDA’s new ERP only nets out such premiums for “underserved” farmers.
The organization says the progressive aspect of the payments is no more than a “backdoor pay limit” that violates both Congressional intent and the letter of the law. They point out that structuring payments this way will cause immense harm to full-time farm families now and in the future.